Go as in AWAY from Gowalla

For those of you that don’t know I have been an avid user of Gowalla (and Foursquare) for well over a year. I first started with checkin apps when I discovered Foursquare, I loved the concept of being able to track where I had gone for my personal benefit but also I enjoyed sharing cool places I went to with others that I socialized with. When I discovered Gowalla I was impressed and felt they took the Foursquare concept to the next level with the addition of pins and really nice looking stamps and badges that you could collect for your Gowalla page. Sure these weren’t real tangible but I still thought it was neat. For a months I would check in on both Gowalla and Foursquare. Then Gowalla came out with what I thought was the killer app they incorporated a way to checkin to both them and other sites at the same time, I no longer had to spend time checking into two applications. Since then I’ve been almost exclusively a Gowalla user (except when I checked on Foursquare to make sure I got checked in).

Unfortunately today my use of Gowalla ends. It appears with the next version of Gowalla 4.0 they have transitioned their business away from the checkin application and decided to become a travel guide. Now when I log into Gowalla and attempt to checkin to where I am the first list of 20 or so places I see are “Recommended places”. Which is Gowalla speak for places that have paid us money to make sure you see them instead of where you actually are. That’s great Gowalla, good for you! You have discovered a business model that has completely alienated they majority of your userbase, the locals. If I wanted to use Gowalla as a travel guide I shouldn’t be forced to use it that way because although I love Disneyland I don’t need to see every Disneyland location near me instead of the places I am actually next to.

Why did you fuck up so bad? Because you didn’t actually try it out with your CORE users before you screwed it all up. Changes like this are something you test out with users that are willing to try out new things, you don’t just change it and tell your users to deal with it. Wait that isn’t exactly what you said. You told the users reading your blog that there has been a “Fabulous response”, I don’t think you are reading the same response I’m reading, because the majority of the responses on your blog have been negative. You have completely alienated the userbase that created the database you now use as your travelguide. More power to you for taking advantage to our two years of patronage to create yourself a business model that will be the end of you.

Bye Gowalla.

Related articles

• Gowalla Updated To Version 4.0 – Removes Features, Adds Force Closes (androidpolice.com)
• Gowalla 4.0, Their Bold Revamp Towards Travel And Stories Goes Live (techcrunch.com)
• Gowalla flips its check-in service to be a social atlas for the world (thenextweb.com)
• Gowalla removes its defining features: Items and Notes (thenextweb.com)

Now, on to the links!

TV Stuff
If you have ever wanted to know more about the themes that make TV writing then I highly suggest to take a couple hours to browse and read around TV Tropes.  It’s especially a great read for anyone that’s ever wanted to learn the tricks of the trade for writing anything from Comics to TV.

Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, what’s the difference?

Music Stuff
Looking for music like the music you like?  Check out Musicovery, a music discovery service.  Doing a search for Jimmy Eat World on there actually links me to a number of other bands I’ve also enjoyed throughout the years.  Pretty impressive.

Here is a funny music video

Chicks Man
If you are interested in attractive philologists, check out Hot for Words.  She’s not really my type, but hey I know there are a lot of you out there that like big boobed blondes.

Check out these chicks melting ice.

Food Stuff
Lifehacker had an article this week on 10 Simple Freeze Tricks to Save You Time and Money.  Info and links about what can be frozen (Broccoli yes, Onions No) to how to make your freeze more efficient.  It’s a good starting place for many people.

Windows 7 Stuff (Tech Stuff)
So yesterday Windows 7 was released.  I’ve already been using it for 3 weeks and think it’s pretty great, especially the 64bit version because nothing beats using 8 gigs of RAM on a computer (except 16 gigs).  A number of websites had guides for Windows 7, but Lifehacker’s Complete Guide to Windows 7 is the most comprehensive, plus it links to lots of other great starting points to learn more.  If you are looking for a more historical look at Windows, you have to check out Maximum PC’s 50 Best (and Worst) Moment’s in Windows History.

Funny Stuff
Check out Life’s pictorial on 30 Dumb Inventions, how about those screaming tomatoes, and to think people follow that crackpots “religion”.  I only read Maxim magazine for the articles, that’s why I’m sharing the 10 People in Every Office article they recently posted.  Lastly check out Stuff White People Life and Photobomb for some more funnies.

Oh no the Pixar lamp killed the letter I!

First off with the start of the NCAA College Football Season I have to kick off my links with this awesome video.

USC opens their quest for the Division 1 championship on Saturday at 12:30 PM (pacific).  Talking about college football anyone that loves college football should really check out my friend Brian’s website, In the Bleachers, the #1 College Football blog and podcast in the world!

Food

Tactical Bacon, there for you when you need it!

I already know how to cook a whole chicken, but I’ve never cooked a whole one in a slow cooker, it’s a great way to get it done with minimal effort.  I’d also suggest checking out the main $5 dinner site, she does a great job sharing the wealth on the ways she’s able to make good cheap family diners.  Bacon is the coolest thing on the internet since sliced bread, and now you can make sure you are able to enjoy the salty smokey goodness of bacon during the next natural disaster with Tactical Bacon!  (thanks to my friend Dippy for the link).  And while you are eating your bacon, why don’t you learn how to cook up a bunch of hard boiled eggs in the oven… Wait are those oven cooked eggs?!

Interesting
According to Carnegie Mellon‘s Death Risk Rankings, the chances of a age 30-39, white, male, from California dying in the next year is 1,537 out of 1,000,000 (wait I fit that description!).  In addition here at the top 5 and the number out of 1,000,000.

Cause of Death – MicroMort
Total – 1,537
Accidents – 408
Circulatory system diseases – 187
Suicide – 173
Cancers – 143
Infectious and parasitic diseases – 141
Homicide – 101

Geeky Stuff

Time Travel!

I love this travel time-line that someone put together based on popular TV shows and movies (I’ve included to the left for those too lazy to visit the site.)  If you’ve ever wanted to check if your favorite user name is available at 130 websites all at one time, then namechk is the site to go.  Warning it could be used for both good and evil!  Good in the fact that you can find 130 websites to register your user name at, bad for the fact that you can find 130 websites to register someone elses user name at so they can’t!

Funny Stuff
Kelly and I are thinking about having a child…  Actually no we aren’t but what better way to bullshit your way out of work and responsibilities than the Office Kid, complete with pictures and drawings!  If having a fake kid isn’t your idea of funny then check out the People of Walmart a place to see pictures of those interesting individuals that shop the crappiest store on earth.

Tech Stuff
Just an FYI for those that keep sending me MMS messages to my iPhone, Sept. 25th is the big day that I will actually be able to see them from my phone!  About damn time AT&T!

And lastly I leave with you a couple more videos.

Pretty cool Old Spice commercial (I really enjoy their advertising and commercials)

College Humors modern take on West Side Story with Web Site Story!   I highly recommend checking it out!  You got to go to their site I can’t embed it.

Keepers
District 9, Sci-fi alien invasion flick!
Legion, Apocalypse everyone going to die flick!
The Goods: Live Hard * Sell Hard, Ari Gold selling cars flick!
Fantastic Mr. Fox, putting this here because it’s a Wes Anderson movie, although I’m not sold completely on it yet.
Inglourius Basterds, Have a feeling there is going to be a lot of blood in this one, but looks good.
The Lovely Bones, not my typical movie, but Peter Jackson and interesting take on a story equals something I want to try and catch.
Extract, Mike Judge is an untapped talent in the movie business, Office Space and Idiocracy are gems.
Big Fan, Patton Oswalt is taking this serious acting thing pretty seriously.
The Invention of Lying, Can’t be any worse then Funny people, so that’s make it’s good enough to see.
Where the Wild Things Are, I feel a little pathetic putting this here, I’m not obsessed with the book like some seem to be, but the trailers look promising.
Alice in Wonderland, HELL YEAH!
Sherlock Holmes, It’s the feel good hit of Christmas…  Sorry the action packed blockbuster of Christmas!
Whip It, Ellen Page learning to be a roller derby girl, in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut. Ok!
How To Be a Serial Killer, Interesting looking indie.
Surrogates, OMG, it’s the Sims in real life!
Zombieland, Looks like it could be fun.  Everyone wants to kill zombies!
Couples Retreat, it has too many people I like to say no.  But it will probably suck.
Youth in Revolt, Haven’t seen a trailer but lots of people I like in it.
2012, it’s the disaster flick of the season!
Avatar, Don’t really know anything about the story, but the technological advancement of film being done by James Cameron for this is reason enough.

Someday
The Time Travelers Wife, Hey it’s sort of like a movie version of Journeyman.
Gentlemen Broncos, Looks like it could be interesting, as long as is doesn’t suck donkey ass like Napoleon Dynamite did…
All About Steve, It’s a Kelly movie, but I like some of the actors, worth giving a try.
A Serious Man, um I’m not sure… It’s a Coen Bros. movie though.
Tron Legacy, I can’t even remember the original.  I’m on the fence for now.  Go ahead take away my geek card, although I think Tron falls under the nerd card…
The Damn United, Hey, hey, it’s a REAL football movie, not that sissy stuff we play in the states.  Looks entertaining, and I like sports stories.
World’s Greatest Dad, Looks like it could be an entertaining black comedy, even with Robin Williams…
An Education, Chick flick, partially wrote by the guy that wrote High Fidelity…  Worth a shot, but will probably catch on TV, unless Kelly wants to see it in the theater.

Stinkers
Spread, Sorry Ashton I don’t need to watch your life story…
Jennifer’s Body, Even hot chicks (although I’m not a big Megan Fox fan) can’t get me interesting in horror flicks.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel, No.
Halloween II, Really?  They are doing it again, again??  Only thing that makes it remotely of interest is Rob Zombie is doing it…
Gamer, Uh… come on.

MBA in 2 Minutes

1. Revenue – Costs = Profits
2. Businesses without customers are not in business
3. You must do everything you can to attract and retain customers

Besides work not much happened the last couple weeks, we had a couple various family gatherings, a relaxing 1 week vacation, and saw a couple movies.  Funny People (3 Stars) and 500 Days of Summer (3.5 Stars) you can check out my movie reviews here (more reviews to come as I catch up!).  Lastly I’m getting into golfing and bought some new irons last week, that should be arriving at my house today and I’m looking forward to playing 1-2 times a month if possible.

On to the Weekly Cool Links!!!!

Music
I have a bunch of music links this week, most of them about finding new music, something I struggle with because of my specific eclectic preference.  I’m always interested in finding more music I might like, iTunes DOES NOT CUT IT with their recommendations, even Genius is just sort of ok, but Lifehacker put together an article on articles and ways to help, with their Top 10 Tricks for Making Your Playlists Rock.  There is Project Playlist which can help you find music, generate playlists and create ringtones for you.  Lastly if you are looking into turning an old computer into a “media server” you might want to check out Amahi, doesn’t require much power or high priced tech to get running, and can stream to just about anything, in addition is has lots of features that compare to those of Windows Home Server!  And lastly, I thought I would share an artist I discovered yesterday, this girl can do wonders with just a ukulele and has a very pretty voice.  She is also playing in Long Beach in a week or so.

Movies
Not much on the movies front this week, but how could we all have missed the production of Lesbian Vampire Killers!  Most of the reviews say it’s pretty bad, but come on with a name like that it has to be at least entertaining.

Sports
I found this gallery archive of Iconic Dodgers Photos from Sports Illustrated.  My favorites include the picture of Sandy Koufax’s no hitter, if you look closely on the chalkboard someone wrote and then erased that he went 0 for 4 in the game.  Also love the picture of two of the best pitchers ever in baseball, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax.  Glad that they included one of my favorite Dodger of all time, Orel Hershiser.

TV
If you happen to know anyone that is looking for a job, perhaps Veridian Dynamics might be just the place.  Well regardless if it is, I highly recommend that you check out the two episodes of Better off Ted that will be on this week (Tuesday 08/11/09 at 9:00 P.M.).  Or maybe you are like me and you just accidentally want to somehow download all the TV shows you are interested in so you can watch them later on your own time and without advertising… Well ShowRSS might be able to help you out…

Tech
If you don’t know by now, both myself and Kelly have iPhones, and one way I keep up with the release of free applications I might want to check out is by visiting FreeAppAlert, actually I have them on my Twitter, but I check out their website via their feed there.  Talking about the iPhone I’m really stoked to see that the FCC is interested in getting to the bottom of the application approval process at Apple after their denial of the Google Voice app.  I was really looking forward to getting to use my Google Voice number, hopefully these questions that the FCC has made will get Apple and AT&T to stop with the antics.

Neat Stuff (probably tech oriented)
Did you know that my relative and US President John Quincy Adams is tweeting?!!?  It’s all being done by the Massachusetts Historical Society, as this article explains.  J.Q.A. kept a 1 line a day journal 200 years ago while he traveled to Russia to be the first US Ambassador to Russia.  According to my calculations he’s currently just off the coast of Canada make his trek to Russia.
View Larger Map

On to present day, I really thought this graph by the New York Times showing how people spend their day was interesting.  I love the data that have put together and the ability to filter through it and see some specific groups.  For those of my friends that enjoy beer, and especially Miller Lite, they are soon to release some new draft technology to be used in the home.  This one should probably be in the tech section, or maybe I should just make an iPhone section, but someone has come out with software that allows one to track what is in their pantry and allow it to link with their iPhone to help create shopping lists and keep your pantry items up to date.  With the integrating of the pantry list on your computer you can have an automated shopping list that updates to your iPhone pantry list!

Local
That’s right I have a local section, but not much to report.  OC Register posted a list on Certified Farmers Markets throughout Orange County, although it doesn’t include the one in Stanton on Mondays (unsure if it’s a certified but I could have swore it was), also check the comment section for most lists.  Lastly, Gustavo Arellano at O.C. Weekly wrote about an article he read in a Jewish satire magazine, in which porn star Joanna Angel praises the sausages from Mattern Sausage in Orange for, “Its curved shape was good for hitting my G-spot and, because it was a smooth surface, it was also great in my ass.”  If that’s not a praise for their sausage then I don’t know what is!  What Gus didn’t mention is that there is actually an article and pictures of Jenna von Oy from Blossom fame!!!

Videos

Ladies, is this what it has come to?  What extracurricular activity does the Shake Weight resemble?

Are all the people in Santa Cruz like this, or is their something wrong with the water?

Don’t forget the Aspray next time you have issues with your body odor.

And lastly I had to include this awesome time-lapse video of Disneyland construction, it’s amazing how quickly they were able to do stuff back then, compared to the time it takes today.

Have a great week!

So last night I went with a group to a new burger restaurant called Slater’s 50/50 in Anaheim Hills, you can read all about it on my restaurant review site Eat in OC.  Also I started another side project/website Bite Orange, still in the development process but I’m pretty much online and running.  Tonight I’m going to a friends bachelor party, going to see The Hangover at Cinema Fusion in Anaheim, they serve beer and have leather recliner seats, then it’s off to the strip joint for a little relaxation, Kelly told me to have a lap dance, I can’t let her down.  Saturday I have the TinoJam softball event and Sunday a wedding, then I’m on vacation for a week!  Not much happened the past 2 weeks, which is why I’m talking about the upcoming weekend instead, since I’ll probably forget to talk about it in two weeks anyway.  But now on to what everyone visits here for Erica Durance photos, er I mean my weekly (cough) cool links!

(Warning this weeks links are video heavy (5 videos to share so I’m going to do something a little different…)

Leading off it’s a video from The Daily Show about people that don’t know when to stop after they have been proven wrong.

Yes I have my mind made up, it’s much ado about nothing.  And Jon Stewart pretty much sums up my feelings at the end of the clip…

Music
Do you like online web games of adventure and quests and like music?  Check out this one called The Sixty One, check out new music and complete quests, to be the ultimate music geek.  Maybe games aren’t your style, how about 8-bit music renditions of Weezer songs?

Movies
I can’t wait to see the newest Star Wars movie!  Wait what?  Oh I mean the fan created 15 second clip Star Wars: Uncut edition.  Fans will recreate the entire Star Wars movie 15 seconds at a time, till it’s complete, all 472 clips have already been selected and 25 clips are already completed.  Or if you are a guy and looking to watch a chick flick you can check out this list of 20 Great Chick Flicks for Men (Including a movie with one of my favorite ladies, Anne Hathaway!) at the Orange County Register.

Talking about movies, I’m looking forward to these both!

Alice in Wonderland

Beer Wars

Food
If you are looking to cook food on the cheap, 5 Dollar Dinners should be able to help you stretch your paycheck when you have a family to feed.

TV
Even with ComicCon going on I don’t have much TV news this week, other then Burn Notice is awesome and Eureka rules!  But I do have this totally cool poster to share for the upcoming season of Chuck!  Let’s hope Chuck is able to bounce back and get more then just the 13 episode order that it’s signed up for, it’s one of the best shows on TV.

Buzz Aldrin thinks I’m cool, but not this guy.

Cool Stuff
I’m really impressed by these cool solar lights that Lifehacker hacked together from some cheap lights, I might just have to make some of those for the backyard.  Or there is the $14 steadycam for you movie directors out there.  Lastly I highly suggest checking out the most recent issue of Wired magazine for their article on The New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans, I particularly enjoyed this chart to determine what excuses to use when calling out sick.  Long live Keyboard cat and the Three Wolf Moon!

Play me off Keyboard Cat…

Yes!  Joel is coming back to the area, I bought tickets for Kelly and I and we are looking forward to it!